Garment hanger attachment



April 5, 1966 R. H. MARLAR 3,244,334

GARMENT HANGER ATTACHMENT Filed sept.v 2s. 196s Zig-Z-if fa. //7 7i-7.2

INV ENTOR RHA/APL A/P ATTORNEY United States Patent Office 3,244,334`,Patented Apr. 5, 1966 3,244,334 GARMENT HANGER ATTACHMENT Robert H.Marlar, 713 S. Main, Lovington, N. Mex.

` Filed-Sept. 23, -`1196-3, Ser. No. 310,693

1 Claim. V(Cl. 223-91) This invention relates to a novel attachment fora conventional wire garment hanger and Vwhich may be effectivelyutilized for supporting various small items such as belts of varioustypes, neckties and the like in asafe andconvenient manner.

Dry cleaning` establishments encounter considerable diculty inconnection with the safe delivery of belts, neckties and the like totheir customers. These items which are usually delivered with garmentssuch as suits, dresses, trousers and skirts on conventional wire coathangers are frequently lost. Additionally, belts of dresses havingfabric covered buckles are frequently damaged when'thebuckleis'hungoverthe garment hanger hook, either due to metal stains `frompipes or tubes of garment racks onwhich the hangers are supported orfrom a 4lubricant applied to Igarment hanger supporting rails tofacilitate sliding movement of the hangers on the rail.

The present 4invention `provi-des an extremely inexpensive'item whichvmaybereadily attached to a conventional wire garment nhanger and whichwill effectively support the aforementioned item without risk ofdarnagethereto or lost thereof.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention` ment, lookingfrom right to left of FIGURE 2, with the garment hanger omitted;

FIGURE 4 is a vertical sectional view of the attachment, takensubstantially along a plane as indicated by the line 4 4 of FIGURE 1,and showing another type of garment item supported by the atta-chment;

FIGURE 5 is a horizontal sectional view of the attachment, takensubstantially along a plane as indicated by the line 5 5 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary rear elevational view of the attachment `andshowin-g another form of garment item supported thereby, and n FIGURE 7is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view taken substantially along theline 7--7 of FIGURE 1, including a showing of a part of the garmenthanger.

Referring more specifically to the drawing, the garment hangerattachment in its entirety and comprising the invention is designatedgenerally 10 and includes an elongated vertically disposed bar 11 havinga front side 12 and a rear side 13. The bar or shank 11 terminates atits lower end in a hook 14 including a ibase portion 15 which isdisposed at approximately a right angle to the plane of the shank 11 andwhich extends from the forward side 12 thereof, and a bill portion 16which extends upwardly and inwardly from the outer end o-f the ybaseportion 15. The bill portion 16 in addition to being inclined inwardlyand toward the shank 11, as illustrated in FIGURES 3, 4 and 5, tapers inthickness toward its upper end, as seen in FIGURES 3 and 4, and theupper portion thereof is preferably reduced in width, as seen in FIGURE2.

The shank 11 has a flange 17 extendingfrom its upper end in a directionoutwardly from its rear side 13, and which is preferably disposed atapproximately a right angle to the plane of `said shank. Asbest seen inFIG- URES 1 and 2, the flange 17 is of a length substantially greaterthan the width of the shank 11 so as to extend outwardly beyond the sideedges thereof. As best seen in FIGURE 1, the flange 17 has an elongatedopening 18 which is disposed lengthwise thereof and which includes anenlarged intermediate .portion 19 and corresponding .end lportions 20which are restricted in width relative to said intermediate portion.

An elongated plate 21 has `an intermediate portion thereofdisposedagainst the forward side 12 of the shank 11 and which ispermanently secured thereto inany conventional manner. The bot-tom`edge-of lthe plate 21 is disposed above the level vof the hook 14 andthe upper edge offsaid plate is disposed `below thelevel of the flange1'7. The plate 21 extends outwardly a substantial distance from bothside edges of the shank 11 and is vpreferably provided with tapered androunded ends, as clearly illustrated in FIGURE 2.

Ashort arcuately curved rod 22 is permanently secured at one end thereofto a long straight rod 23, near to but spaced from an end 24 of said rod23. The other end of the arcuately bowed rod 22 is permanently securedin any conventional manner to the rear face ofthe plate 21 near vone endthereof. The other longer end portion 25 of the rod '23 extendslongitudinally of the rear side of the plate 21 to near the other end ofsaid plate, and across the rear side 13 of the shank 11. As seen in FIG-URES l and 5, the short rod 22 is bowed in a direc-tion toward the rodend 24 and away from the rod portion 25.

A part of a conventional wire garment hanger, designated genera-lly 26,is illustrated in FIGURE 2, including a twisted neck portion 27 partlyformed by one end of the wire strand from which the garment hanger 26 isconstructed. The other end of the Wire strand extends from an upper endof the twisted neck, not shown, and is turned back to form a downwardlyopening supporting hook of the hanger 26. The two end portions of thestrand of the garment hanger 26 extend downwardly in diverging relationto one another from the twisted neck 27 and thence downwardly as spacedapart substantially parallel legs 28, the lower ends of which are curvedoutwardly away from one another and extended outwardly and downwardly toform the conventional garment shou-lder engaging portions 29.

In applying the attachment 10 to the garment hanger 26, the garmenthang-er hook, not shown, is passed through any part of the opening 18.The enlarged intermediate portion 19 of said opening is of sufficientsize so that the twisted neck 27 can be passed upwardly therethrough,and the end portions 20 of the opening are of a width slightly greaterthan the diameter of the strand of the garment hanger to receive thelegs 28 when the flange 17 is displaced downwardly from the twisted neck27. The length of the opening 18- is such that the ends thereof willbind against the legs 28 where said legs commence to bend outwardly tomerge with the portions 29, for supporting the attachment 10 detachablyon the garment hanger 26 and with the `shank 11 extending downwardlyfrom the flange 1'7, as clearly illustrated in FIGURE 2.

The plate 21 is disposed below and between the hanger portions 29. Abuckle 30 of a belt, not shown, may engage the hook 14 `for suspendingthe belt from the attachment 1d, and the inwardly sloping disposition ofthe bill portion 16 will prevent accidental disengagement of the bucklefrom said attachment. The hook 14 is relatively narrow so that it willaccommodate narrow buckles as are frequently utilized on belts ofdresses.

The rod 22 is somewhat resilient and the rod 23 may also possess someresiliency, so that said parts 22 and 23 combine with the plate 21 toform a resilient clasp. By gripping and applying pressure to the rod end24 and the end of the plate 21 disposed adjacent thereto, the ro-dportion 25 can be sprung away from the plate 21 and the shank 11 tofacilitate applying garment items to said rod portion 2S and which willbe yieldably gripped between said rod portionZS and the shank 11 whenthe rod end 24 is released. In FIGURE 3 a part of a gripper belt, buttonbelt, or hard-back belt 31 is shown releasably held by said spring clipbetween the rod portion 25 and shank 11. A portion of a rope-type belt32 is shown in FIGURE 4 looped over the rod portion 25 and releasablygripped between said rod portion and the shank 11. A necktie or softbelt 33 is shown partially in FIGURE 6 looped over the r-od portion 25and also gripped between said rod portion and the shank 11.

The attachment 10 may be for-med of various materials but is preferablyformed of a plastic in order to enable said attachment to be mosteconomically manufactured and to insure that any item supported therebywill not be damaged due to metal stains. The front side of the plate 21may bear an advertisement of the cleaning establishment which utilizesthe attachment.

Various modications and changes are contemplated and may obviously beresorted to, without departing from the funfction or scope of theinvention as hereinafter dened by the appended claim.

I claim as my invention:

An attachment for a conventional wire gar-ment hanger comprising anelongated bar having an outwardly and upwardly turned back lower enddefining an upwardly opening article supporting hook, a flange extendingat an angle from the upper end of said bar and provided with an openingadapted to engage an upper portion of `a conventional wire garmenthanger for suspending the attachment therefrom, said opening beingelongated with its longitudinal axis disposed substantially parallel tothe plane of :said bar, said opening having end portions adapted to griptransversely spaced garment hanger strand portions for supporting theattachment substantially irnmovable relative to the garment hanger, saidopening ineluding an enlarged intermediate portion adapted to per- =rnitpassage of a twisted neck portion of the garment hanger therethrough, anelongated plate secured to and disposed crosswise of one side of thebar, an elongated rod disposed crosswise of the other side of the bar,and means yieldably connecting the rod near one end thereof to the platefor yieldably urging the rod against the bar for clamping an articlesupported by the rod between the bar and rod.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,070,239 8/1913Ferguson 211-113 X 1,087,067 2/1914 Loudenslager 211-1'19 X 1,754,9404/1930 Freeman 211-113 X 1,760,290 5/1930 Tammarazzo 223-88 X 2,594,2284/1952 Smith 223-88 X 2,626,713 1/1953 Peacock 211-113 X 2,753,1437/1956 Berlt 223-88 X 2,973,887 3/1961 Bonaldi 223-88 3,033,430 5/1962Zintel 223-98 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

